Homeowner arrested during WestConnex eviction

Pub asked to remove signs

The owner of the iconic Irish pub J.B O'Reillys in Cambridge he has been told by the WA Health Department to remove his tobacco memorabilia signs or face prosecution.

Almost every inch of Mr North's popular watering hole in Cambridge Street is littered with antique signs and memorabilia, including a number of collectable tobacco signs dating back more than 120 years.

But the "advertising" was deemed a breach of the Tobacco Act, despite most of the brands no longer being on the market and J.B. O'Reilly's not selling any tobacco products.

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Mr Barnett said the Health Department's decision to get the pub to pull down the signs was "ridiculous".

"They are collectors pieces, they show an era gone by... it is not promoting smoking or selling cigarettes and if that's the way they want to decorate their pub, good on them," he said.

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"This is where there has been a lack of common sense. I am over ruling it. They can keep their decorations. If they have old tin images of smoking and cigarette promotions from a bygone era - if that's the way they decorate their pub, they are totally entitled to do it."

The Premier didn't think the Tobacco Act needed to be tweaked or that the public servant who made the gaffe be sacked.